In the wake of the shocking news last week that the summer’s biggest event, the Squamish Valley Music Festival, has been cancelled, local people reacted with a mix of sadness, curiosity and optimism.
For some young music fans, some of the biggest supporters of the event who spent hundreds for weekend passes and counted down the days to the next festival for months in advance, the cancellation came as a blow.
Grade 12 Howe Sound Secondary student Shondra Martin said she was extremely upset when she heard last Wednesday the festival was no more.
“The festival has been around almost as long as I can remember,” she said. “It was always a big part of the summer and will be missed greatly.”
Quest University students were sad to hear of the end of the festival as well, for cultural and financial reasons. “This is a large void that will be hard to fill in not only institutional funding for Quest but culturally for many students,” said James Blumhagen, a university senior. “It’s been a consistent source of income for the school during the summer months as it rents out a significant portion of the campus. It has also provided support towards our athletics program… and provided a number of students on campus with jobs.”
Reasons for the cancellation still remain only guesses as no one from either Brand Live or Live Nation Canada, which produced the event, have explained the decision.
Some have speculated having to pay acts in U.S. dollars made the festival too pricey this year due to the exchange rate. Another factor may have been Live Nation Canada’s purchase of the Alberta-based Union Events’ festivals in February.
Mayor Patricia Heintzman said she doesn’t know why it was cancelled. “I can speculate the dollar had something to do with it, competition had something to do with it, their own strategy in terms of which festivals they acquire and don’t acquire to get their share of the pie – we aren’t involved with those decisions,” she said. “They are challenged a little bit here in Squamish because of the demands on the land. We aren’t like Pemberton with acres and acres of farm land you can gobble up for a month.”
She said nothing at the district level she knows of impacted the decision. “It was fundamentally a business decision – that is what they told us,” she said.
Heintzman said she has talked to MLA Jordan Sturdy about the province coming in with some guidelines so there is a clear indication of the scope of fire, ambulance and police services when big events come to town, she said, “so we don’t have these elevating costs of various agencies,” she said.
The RCMP had discussed requesting funds to cover planning time for the future festivals, in addition to the policing time during the four-day event.
The mayor has a glimmer of hope the festival may return next year, even though the event’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts have been deleted.
“But it’s just a glimmer,” she said.
The festival was a boon for some local businesses. “As the festival grew, so did options for businesses to participate, and it is unfortunate that this is no longer available,” read a statement from the Squamish Chamber of Commerce.
Glenn Davies, president of the Downtown Squamish Business Improvement Association, said the festival was a “profoundly positive experience and was something we were all very proud of.”
“On a positive note, our amazing community is still here with a very bright future, and we all look forward to what’s coming next. Squamish Valley Music Festival is one event on one weekend, and Squamish is alive with incredible adventure opportunities 365 days a year,” he said.
Downtown restaurant owner Les McDonald, who was hoping to get a permit to operate a barbecue stand on the festival grounds at the festival, said he feels the community will come together after the disappointment of the cancellation wears off.
“Because of the positive impact this has had on our community, I think we are all going to rally,” said McDonald. “I think the community will rally, I think the district will rally and say ‘Hey, this is unfortunate this has happened, but how can we get this back?’”
For some business owners further away from the grounds, the festival was never much of a financial boost, but the cancellation still had an impact, especially as the news was paired with the end of another Squamish summer staple, the Test of Metal mountain bike race, which will be held for the last time this year.
“I am sad,” said Greg Venables, owner of Wigan Pier Restaurant in the Garibaldi Highlands. “I think it is a fantastic venue and… with the Test of Metal being the last year and that, I have talked to several people and they have all expressed sadness.”
